Oil prices below $75 in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil fell below $75 in volatile Asian trade on Tuesday as Greece's credit standing suffered another knock, which offset positive European industrial production numbers, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, slid 30 cents to $74.82 a barrel in the afternoon.

Brent North Sea crude for July delivery -- which expires later Tuesday -- eased 31 cents to $74.89.

Oil prices were restrained by the Moody's downgrade of debt-laden Greece's sovereign rating to "junk" status on Monday, said Victor Shum, senior principal of the Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.

"What happened was really the market was reacting to the news that Moody's downgraded Greece's government's credit ratings to junk, therefore the market has pulled back moderately reacting to that," he said.

However, Shum said the dip was limited as "most market participants really expected that... it was not really taken by surprise".

Stronger-than-expected numbers for industrial production released by the European Union on Monday helped counterbalance the Moody's downgrade earlier, he said.

Eurozone industrial output jumped 0.8 per cent in April from March, nearly double the gain expected by analysts.

"Those better industrial production numbers helped to push oil pricing above $75" in the morning, Shum said.